read write prompt #53
by Nathan Moore
In honor of Read Write Poem’s first birthday, for our collaborative prompt this week we’ll go back to the first ever Read Write Poem prompt, which was, in fact, collaborative.
Here’s how Dana started that prompt:
Welcome to the first-ever Read Write Prompt. This week, we’ll focus on American Sentences. Some people don’t like the name, but please don’t be put off by it. It’s simply the name Allen Ginsberg chose for this poetry form, which is a single sentence of 17 syllables. You can read more about American Sentences at www.americansentences.com, where Paul Nelson talks about them in detail.
For this exercise, we’ll write an American Sentence. The original prompt suggested collaboration by finding someone on the participant page, emailing them and working together to write sentences back and forth in response to one another or writing a sentence word by word together.
For this post, we’ll see how American Sentences might be combined to form a single poem, with different people each contributing a sentence to the overall poem. If you would like, leave one American Sentence in the comments section of this post. When we post the Get Your Poem On post, we’ll include our group poem at the bottom of that post on Thursday. You can read the result of the original experiment here.
We’re asking everyone to leave an American Sentence in the comments section of this post. Comments will be open until midnight Tuesday (CST).
When it’s time to Get Your Poem On, we’ll have a free day of sorts: You’ll be invited to link to anything you like. If you’ve written a series of American Sentences, you can link to that. Or feel free to link to something in response to one of our other prompts or another poem you’d like us to read. Whatever you want to do. We’re easy that way. And, happy anniversary again. This is a celebration of all you’ve done in the last year and all you’ve made Read Write Poem.
|
get the read write poem badge! 
Wear it loud, wear it proud! Display the Read Write Poem badge on your site. Just click here or on the image above to get the code! read write poem news- yes, yes, here’s another virtual book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 6, 2010 | 11:37 amFind the latest tour stop for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace at Jillypoet, Jill Crammond Wickham’s blog, where you can find an interview with Pamela that discusses how she creates manuscripts.
Previous stops include Daniel Romo at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies and James Brush at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- the best of the web is in our ranks
February 6, 2010 | 11:35 amSarah J. Sloat’s poem,”Attending the Tasting” (published in The Literary Bohemian) has been selected for Best of the Web 2010. Congratulations, Sarah!
- another (w00t!) read write poem member on the joe milford poetry show
February 6, 2010 | 11:34 amOn the Joe Milford Poetry Show tomorrow (Feb. 6): W.F. Roby at 9 AM (PST). Find the show here!
Joe describes Will as a “great language poet and bad-ass.”
- ‘literary podcasting made simple with wordpress.com’
February 6, 2010 | 11:33 amDave Bonta has published a how-to article that might be of interest to WordPress users: “Literary Podcasting Made Simple with WordPress.com,” based on his and Beth Adams’ experience at Qarrtsiluni.
Thanks, Dave, for continuing to help make the community aware of technological resources that can expand our art.
- the latest (virtual) book tour stop for ‘a walk through the memory palace’
February 3, 2010 | 3:53 pmThe latest tour stop has been posted for Pamela Johnson Parker’s debut collection, A Walk Through the Memory Palace. Find out how Daniel Romo responded to the work at his blog, Peyote Soliloquies.
James Brush provided our first tour stop at his blog, Coyote Mercury.
You can find all our plans for the tour here.
- planning for napowrimo in april, and you are invited!
February 2, 2010 | 6:12 pmHello, hello dear Read Write Poem community members! We are in the planning stages for NaPoWriMo. (What? Is that a groan I hear, or an excited exclamation?)
We are planning another prompt-every-day for those folks who love to write a daily poem in April (which is, as most of you know, National Poetry Month in the United States — although there is an international following of writing poetry every day in April, too, so it is not just about the States).
Anyway! This is a call for prompts because we want to run your ideas, one every day, in April. So here’s what to do:
- Prompts must be no more than 250 words, and we will take the first 30 that we receive.
- Include “NaPoWriMo Prompt” in the subject line of your email as well as your username (e.g., the name you use when you log in) so we can match you up with your prompt and give you the link love.
- Email your submission (in the body of the email — no attachments please) to prompts (at) readwritepoem (dot) org!
We’ll let you know when we’ve got the 30, but don’t delay because it takes a lot of time to format the posts and we want to be ready come April Fools’ Day. Woohoo!
- new senior contributors at read write poem
February 2, 2010 | 11:51 amWe are thrilled to announce that Ren Powell and Dave Jarecki are moving into the senior contributor role at Read Write Poem. Both have been writing feverishly for the site, as well as providing ideas for content and for the community as a whole. In short, they make this site a more lively, and better, place.
Ren and Dave will fill the roles vacated by Carolee Sherwood and Jill Crammond Wickham, who have moved into the manager role.
Everyone please thank Ren and Dave for their hard work and commitment to Read Write Poem.
- rounding out the virtual book tour of sarah j. sloat’s ‘in the voice of a minor saint’
January 31, 2010 | 1:53 pmOur last stop on the Virtual Book Tour of Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint is with Ren Powell. Find Ren’s review at More Babel.
Joseph Harker provided our first stop in December, and you can find David Moolten’s review at Edible Detritus. David’s was followed by Dave Jarecki’s. Dave’s review is at his blog. Find Jill Crammond Wickham’s at Jillypoet: Mom Trying to Write.
In case you missed the introduction, we are (virtually) hosting Sarah J. Sloat’s In the Voice of a Minor Saint. For complete tour information, such as how you can get your own copy of the collection or how you can get involved in future tours, read this post.
- make your own book: get off the computer and onto the paper
January 30, 2010 | 4:19 pmBeth Adams has posted her latest project at The Cassandra Pages. “A Handmade Book” may not explicate all the details of bookbinding, but Beth shows readers the “Secret Belgian Binding.” It’s a beautiful as well as inspiring post.
If you would like more detailed instructions, Google “secret Belgian bookbinding” and find sites such as this one. Or look for a local book arts class for hands-on instruction.
As Beth says, ” … it did me good to get away from the computer and feel my hands at work!”
 Archive for read write poem news »
|
|
Loading ...
Dark clouds in Payne’s grey, foliage in hunter green, heart in Prussian blue.
The winter goddess will soon descend to seduce our warm, waiting souls.
A single raven flies overhead making a most raucous noise.
Snowflakes trickle from the frozen sky, turning your skin a shade of pink.
You gasp- from me wiping the last drop of perspiration from your back.
Funny how no American that I know would ever talk that way.
The tunnel bore goes deep, but I cannot follow into the darkness.
Hey Mac, find another cab, I don’t go to Brooklyn this time of night.
Sweet: your American sentence – now there’s an American sentence.
The dog of logic chases the cat of truth up the tree of grammar.
Thanks Richard, the American dream starts with the imagination!
and that same dream can end with the sound of shoe leather hitting the street.
Chasing my tail until dizzy, I lunge, bite, howl: I’ve been here before.
On a tired morning the day stretches like a thousand-foot ladder.
tall bamboo shoots sway directionless, taking my dreams too far away from you
illusion shatters the glass of courage, breaking the foundation of wonder
And the cold young man looks old, as he takes another brown paper sip.
Drunk in the power of her memory, I await the morning light.
found fall object: dried snakeskin stuck to a log in the damp wood pile
Reptilian fishnet shed on the way to a hot date with a mouse.
While they dance, her hair falls from its ponytail, light as the summer rain.
seven years of libertine wanderings captured on a hand-made scroll
I watched his back as he stepped briskly into my past and his future.
He turns to throw verbal knives and a sullen look in my direction.
i see your lips sculpting words but I’ve fallen into your deep green eyes
my rhythmed breath beckons me inward to the bright center of my joy
our identity emerges with the choice at life’s first crossroad
Ooops!! I meant to write:
our identity emerges with the choice made a life’s first crossroad
Ooops – Ooops!! I actually meant to write:
our identity emerges with the choice made at life’s first crossroad
His obese mind is an obtuse instrument of wit, a pointless pin.
We fall asleep to the discordant lullaby of his long ass speech.
[...] poem was written for two prompts: Read Write Poem #53 and One Single Impression #39: Childhood [...]